Create and use columns as macrovariables within datastep

[Edoedoedo]

Hi, I'm dealing with the following scenario:

I have a table RULES which contains two character fiels: CONDITION and DESCRIPTION:

RULE	CONDITION	DESCRIPTION
RULE1	COL1 < 0	Warning, COL1 CAN'T BE NEGATIVE (current value = &COL1)
RULE2	COL1 + COL2 > 100	Warning, THE SUM COL1+COL2 IS INVALID (current values: &COL1 + &COL2 > 100)

Next, I have a table EVENTS which contains some variables:

COL1	COL2	COL3
80	40	10
-10	10	0

Note that in RULES.CONDITION I have explicitly the EVENTS columns name; in RULES.DESCRIPTION I have the EVENTS columns name with "&" prefixed.

I want to create an OUTPUT table as follows:

COL1	COL2	COL3	RULE1	RULE2	RULE1_DESCRIPTION	RULE2_DESCRIPTION
80	40	10	0	1	ok	Warning, THE SUM COL1+COL2 IS INVALID (current values: 80 + 40 > 100)
-10	10	0	1	0	Warning, COL1 CAN'T BE NEGATIVE (current value = -10)	ok

RULE1/2 are easy (I'm using call execute, I sketch the code so there may be mistakes it is just to point the idea out):

data _NULL_;
     set RULES;
     if (_N_ = 1) then call execute('data OUTPUT; set EVENTS;);

     call execute(RULE || '= ifn(' || CONDITION || ',1,0);');
.......
run;

This works perfectly. Now I want to add description, so I tried as before:

call execute(RULE || '_DESCRIPTION = ifn(' || CONDITION || ',' || DESCRIPTION || ','ok);');

but this does not resolve macrovariables (of course because they don't exists), so I get e.g. Warning, COL1 CAN'T BE NEGATIVE (current value = &COL1).

But if I try do define them using symput in the same datastep of course I get wrong values.

How would you do that in a simple way?

Thanks a lot

[RW9]

Yes, you have to remember the order of execution in this instance.  The call execute generates code which then goes to the compiler, it doesn't then go back through the pre-processor.  Instead of puting &COL1 in your description, have some sort of easy to find replacing string, e.g.:

Warning, COL1 CAN'T BE NEGATIVE (current value = ~COL1~)

Then have a post-check processing datastep which merely replaces values:

data final;

     set check_output;

     reason=tranwrd(reason,"~COL1~",strip(put(col1,best.)));

     reason=tranwrd(reason,"~COL2~",strip(put(col2,best.)));

run;

That's probably the simplest way.  You could also modify your code to call a macro with the data:

data _null_;

     set checks;

     call execute('%my_macro (col1='||put(col1,best.)||', col2='||put(col2,best.)||', check="'||check||'");');

run;

[Ron_MacroMaven]

Here are two pages with programs that address your issues:

how to use a list, a control data set,

to call another program.

http://www.sascommunity.org/wiki/Call_Execute_Parameterized_Include

Macro CallMacr - sasCommunity

[ndp · Accepted solution]

no need to create and use macro variables:

data rules;
length condition $25 description $200;
rule="RULE1";
condition="COL1 < 0";
description="'Warning, COL1 CANT BE NEGATIVE (current value = '||STRIP(PUT(COL1,BEST.))||')'";
output;
rule="RULE2";
condition="COL1 + COL2 > 100";
description="'Warning, THE SUM COL1+COL2 IS INVALID (current values: '||STRIP(PUT(COL1,BEST.))||' + '||STRIP(PUT(COL2,BEST.))||' > 100)'";
output;
run;

data _null_;
set rules end=eof;
if (_n_=1) then call execute('data output; set evnt;');
call execute(rule||'=ifn('||strip(condition)||',1,0);');
/* call execute(desc||'=ifn('||strip(rule)||','||desc||',ok);');*/
call execute(rule || "_description = ifc(" || strip(condition) || "," || strip(description) || ",'Ok');");
if eof then call execute('run;');
run;

[Ksharp]

You can trasform it into values before call execute .

Like something.

call execute('temp=tranwrd(" '||DESCRIPTION||' ","&COL1", COL1); ' );

call execute('temp=tranwrd(" '||DESCRIPTION||' ","&COL2", COL2); ' );

call execute('temp=tranwrd(" '||DESCRIPTION||' ","&COL3", COL3); ' );

call execute(RULE || '_DESCRIPTION = ifn(' || CONDITION || ',temp,"ok");');

消息编辑者为：xia keshan

[Edoedoedo]

Thanks a lot guys, call execute without macrovariables works fine, it's simple and elegant.